Youngstown schools CEO Justin Jennings could be taking another job in Ohio

Youngstown City Schools CEO Justin Jennings may soon be leaving the district for another job.

City school officials in Akron will decide on Monday whether to hire Jennings as the district’s assistant superintendent and chief of leadership and learning, according to the board’s Monday meeting agenda. The position would pay $183,102.07 per year and he’d start Jan. 3, according to the meeting agenda. Jennings’ name is the only one board members are slated to consider Monday, the agenda shows.

Jennings could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

A Youngstown schools spokesperson on Friday declined to confirm whether Jennings is leaving the district. Jennings is expected to issue a statement on Monday, the spokesperson said in an email.

The Akron City Schools Board of Education is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Jennings, a former Michigan public school teacher and administrator, was appointed to lead the district as CEO in August 2019, under provisions included in Ohio House Bill 70 — informally known as the “Youngstown Plan.” The plan relegated control of underperforming school districts such as Youngstown’s to state-imposed Academic Distress Commissions in 2015.

However, the state’s biennial budget, approved this past July, gives school districts like Youngstown an escape hatch to regain complete local control through developing and sticking to new academic improvement plans.

State education officials this week OK’d Youngstown’s plan, as well as plans for other state-controlled school districts in Lorain and East Cleveland, The Vindicator reported.

This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Youngstown schools CEO Justin Jennings could be taking another job in Ohio."